T-Mobile Austria has demanded that restrictions are placed on the takeover of Orange Austria by smaller rival Hutchison 3G Austria (3 Austria). In a statement, the company said that it did not oppose market consolidation in principle. However, it believes that the proposed deal would have a significant negative impact on competition to the benefit of 3 Austria and market leader A1 Telekom Austria. T-Mobile Austria CEO Robert Chvatal called on Austrian and European regulators to closely examine the proposed sale of Orange Austria frequencies and its discount unit Yesss! to A1. In its current form, he believes that the deal would give 3 Austria and A1 an unacceptable competitive advantage in the roll-out of LTE broadband networks, especially in the business customer market, to the detriment of T-Mobile. He added that the takeover of Yesss! would boost the market share of A1 to almost 50 percent, which would not be in the interests of competition. T-Mobile's statement comes as 3 Austria confirms that it has officially registered the proposed takeover deal with EC in Brussels. The EC now has 35 days to decide whether to open a more in-depth investigation.
